ELEMENTAL PROCESS TO BREACH THE FOUR LOWER WHY WHO WHEN HOW FINANCIAL CRISIS U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS 2019—IMMEDIATELY REMOVE EARTHEN BERM Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) The Corps has the authority to breach Neither the ongoing litigation over Breaching of the four lower Snake is the federal agency that manages the LSRD. Despite claims made by the the 2016 Federal Biological Opinion River dams can be completed in four the four lower Snake River dams Corps breaching does not require nor the Court order for a Columbia steps: (1) Begin reservoir draw-down (LSRD). BPA is in financial crisis, with a congressional authorization or River Systems Operation review (2) Excavate the earthen berm (3) debt-to-asset-ratio of 90%.1 The LSRD appropriation. Government leaders (CRSO/EIS) constrains USACE from Begin controlled hydraulic breach (4) have a diminished benefit-cost-ratio such as Governor Inslee, Senator breaching the dams through channel Repeat on remaining three dams. The of 0.15 to 1.002 and the power these Murray, and Senator Cantwell need to bypass today. Breaching is far easier Corps Walla Walla District estimated dams provide is surplus; only 2 hours call Lt. Gen. Semonite of the Corps than originally planned, making it this process would take several years out of the last 93,000 hours produced and insist that he initiate the immediate possible to move from a decision to and well over $70 million, but it can be were used by BPA customers.3 It is breach of the LSRD under Alternative breach, to actual breaching in a completed in a matter of months for fiscally beneficial to breach the LSRD 4 of the existing 2002 EIS. matter of months, not years. around $1 million.6 to alleviate financial burden from the tax and rate paying citizens. Breaching can be financed through existing debt BEFORE AFTER reduction and credit mechanisms as a fish mitigation action or direct funding by BPA. Breaching the LSRD will save money in the long-term, because maintenance of one far exceeds the cost to breach all four.4 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT During migration, each LSRD and reservoir kills 2 million juvenile Chinook salmon. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) has already studied dam breaching as a means to increase Chinook salmon in the 2002 Feasibility Report / Environmental Impact Statement (2002 EIS), under Alternative 4. Dam breaching was determined to be the best option to increase salmon survival.5 Breaching the LSRD is environmentally beneficial Before and after photo simulation of dam breaching on . U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) active 2002 EIS. to restore Chinook salmon and the species that depend on them.

STEPS TO BREACH 1. Begin reservoir draw-down 2. Excavate the earthen berm 3. Begin controlled hydraulic breach 4. Repeat on remaining 3 dams

1. BPA Financial Plan 2018–2023 | 2. Earth Economics | 3. Rocky Mountain Economics | 4. Five Means for Breaching 4 Lower Snake River Dams | 5. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Final Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration FR/EIS | 6. The Five Means for Breaching the Four Lower Snake River Dams THE FOUR LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS DEBATE 2002 FEASIBILITY REPORT / ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT The Snake River is the principal tributary to the , draining approximately The stated purpose of the 2002 Feasibility Report / Environmental Impact Statement 109,000 square miles in , Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, , and . (2002 EIS) was to evaluate and screen structural alternative measures that may The four lower Snake River dams (LSRD) includes four locks and dams in the state of increase the survival of juvenile anadromous fish through the Lower Snake River Washington: , , , and Lower Project and assist in the Endangered Species Act recovery of listed salmon and Granite dam.1 These dams are not designed to control floods, but were built to provide steelhead stocks. Through this project, four action options or alternatives were navigation and . Over the years, barge traffic has shifted to rail and some researched. commodities have stopped using barges altogether. Moreover, nearly all of the hydropower produced by the LSRD is sold as a surplus. Four Alternatives Evaluated in the 2002 EIS 2002 Existing Conditions Maximum Transport Alternative 1 Alternative 2 Chinook “King” Salmon are keystone species and one of the premier native fish of the (Do nothing) of Juvenile Salmon Pacific Northwest. These salmon are a vital food source for a diversity of wildlife, 3 Major System including Southern Resident Killer Whales, bears, seals, and large birds of prey. These Alternative 3 Alternative 4 Dam Breaching fish are anadromous, meaning they live their lives in freshwater and saltwater: born in Improvements upstream rivers, migrate to sea, and return to their natal streams to spawn the next generation.2 Alternative 1, doing nothing, was considered a slightly better option than The Columbia Snake River Basin was once the most prolific salmon habitat in the Alternative 2 or 3. The Corps selected a modified Alternative 3 (combined with 1 world, but today its salmon and steelhead numbers have plummeted. In the 1950s, elements of Alternative 2) as the recommended plan. This decision wasted $1 almost 130,000 adult salmon and steelhead returned to the Snake River in the billion with no improvements in salmon returns. spring and summer to spawn, but by 2017 that number had dropped below Since 2002, three of the four proposed Alternatives from the 2002 EIS have been 4 10,000. (These numbers do not include fall Chinook returns.) Since the 1970s attempted, yet salmon continue to decline. The only alternative not used is juvenile fish from the lower Snake River drainage system migrate past as many as eight Alternative 4—breaching the LSRD. The last option to save Chinook salmon, and 1 Federal dams before reaching the Pacific Ocean. Roughly 40% of all Chinook salmon the alternative originally recognized as the most probable option that would that migrate across all four dams and reservoirs will die; resulting in daily fish counts actually successfully recover salmon populations. that continue to be below the 10-year average. Puget Sound Partnership numbers indicate that Chinook salmon populations have “Breaching” will reestablish normative river flows by removing the earthen berms dropped to as little as 3% of their historic numbers.5 We continue to see large scale of the dam, whereas “removal” will reestablish normative river flows by impacts resulting from their rapid disappearance. demolishing and removing the concrete structure of the dam. Dam breaching is a small scale U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) project when compared to dam removal. Breaching the four lower Snake River dams (LSRD) will cost $340 million and could be finished by 2020 if we began in 2019.4

THE COLUMBIA RIVER SYSTEM OPERATIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT In 2016 the U.S. District Court ordered an analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act. They stated the previous 2014 BiOp which assessed Chinook salmon lacked sufficient evidence to make a decision regarding the state of salmon; thus, the Columbia River System Operations/ Environmental Impact Statement (CRSO/EIS) was born. The CRSO/EIS is a regional, comprehensive effort to evaluate a range of operations alternatives for the 14 federal hydropower facilities that exist along the Columbia and Snake Rivers. USACE, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Bonneville Power Administration are co-leads on the current CRSO/EIS process. This scope is much too large to be applied practically, as the decrease in Chinook salmon populations has already been identified as a result from the LSRD. Therefore, studying the entire Columbia River System, is a waste of federal resources, taxpayer money, and time that endangered species do not have. Since an assessment has already been made, and a solution has already been identified through the 200 EIS under Alternative 4. Chinook salmon are facing perilous conditions and dam breaching is their greatest opportunity for survival.

1. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Final Lower Snake River Juvenile Salmon Migration FR/EIS | 2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Salmon of the West | 3. The National Wildlife Federation | 4. Natural Resources Defense Council, In the Columbia–Snake River Basin, Salmon Are Losing Their Way | 5. The Seattle Times, Disappearance of wild salmon hurts local economy